India recently announced a goal to produce and sell only electric cars (presumably including 2- and 3-wheelers) by 2030, chiefly aiming to reduce the petroleum import bill and running cost of vehicles, while simultaneously reducing air pollution with attendant health benefits and cutting greenhouse gas emissions. The announcement has been hailed the world over, but with several voices suggesting caution, and pointing to the many obstacles as well as requirements that such an ambitious ...

Earth Day, commemorated on 22 April each year, has always seen marches and demonstrations highlighting dangers to life on the planet and mobilizing people for the defence of the environment from wanton exploitation and profiteering. Earth Day this year was different. It saw rallies in cities round the world, esp ...

There is a new buzz in the country at the prospect of an ultra-modern, even futuristic, transportation system making a debut in India, among the first few countries to host this much-touted system. If it becomes reality, it would be yet another instance of India leading the march of highly developed tech-led countries, the dream being actively promoted among the “aspirational classes” in this country, not satisfied with just a bullet train but looking to leapfrog to the next genera ...

An international team of scientists have discovered a set of seven near earth-sized exoplanets circling a nearby star, named Trappist-1. They have reported this discovery recently in Nature. What is exciting about these exoplanets is that all of them may have water, with three falling in what is called the habitable zone. In the habitable zone, planets may have water in liquid form on their surface, and therefore the possibility ...